Han Chinese

(950 words)

The Han are one of the 56 officially acknowledged nationalities (minzu) of modern China. About 92% of China's total population (i. e. 1,137,386,112 individuals according to census conducted in the year 2000) belong to this majority nationality. In addition, there is a large number of people who also consider themselves Han Chinese but live outside the PRC and Taiwan, mainly in Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe (Chinese overseas). The name Han is a reference to the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE), when the different peoples governed by the dynasty were referred to …